Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (NYSE:BIP) Rating Increased to Strong-Buy at National Bank Financial

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (NYSE:BIP) (TSE:BIP.UN) was upgraded by analysts at National Bank Financial from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report released on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. National Bankshares set a $35.00 price objective on shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 6th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in a research report on Friday, August 29th. They set a “buy” rating and a $35.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada set a $40.00 price objective on shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Brookfield Infrastructure Partners has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $40.14.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Stock Performance

NYSE BIP opened at $33.08 on Thursday. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners has a 1 year low of $25.72 and a 1 year high of $36.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.33 billion, a PE ratio of 661.81 and a beta of 1.10. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $31.02 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $31.14.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (NYSE:BIP) (TSE:BIP.UN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.82 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $5.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.95 billion. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners had a net margin of 1.54% and a return on equity of 1.15%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.77 EPS. Analysts predict that Brookfield Infrastructure Partners will post 3.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Brookfield Infrastructure Partners

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Caldwell Trust Co bought a new stake in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in the 2nd quarter worth $66,000. Munro Partners bought a new stake in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners during the 2nd quarter valued at about $5,634,000. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC boosted its stake in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 2.8% during the 2nd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 31,957 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,071,000 after purchasing an additional 885 shares in the last quarter. MRP Capital Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 15.4% during the 2nd quarter. MRP Capital Investments LLC now owns 24,025 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $805,000 after purchasing an additional 3,200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State of Wyoming boosted its stake in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 12.6% during the 2nd quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 3,649 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $122,000 after purchasing an additional 407 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 57.92% of the company’s stock.

About Brookfield Infrastructure Partners

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. owns and operates utilities, transport, midstream, and data businesses in North and South America, Europe, and the Asia Pacific. The company's Utilities segment operates approximately 2,900 km of electricity transmission lines; 4,200 km of natural gas pipelines; 8.1 million electricity and natural gas connections; and 0.6 million long-term contracted sub-metering services.